Andy & Ari On3 - Nick Saban has a problem to solve | Billy Napier, Football Jesus? | Northwestern mess gets messier

Episode Date: July 20, 2023

Andy and Jesse Simonton react to Alabama’s appearance at SEC Media Days. The Crimson Tide contingent introduced the concept of “negative rat poison,” and Nick Saban revealed his favorite kind of cake. (0:00-17:13)Florida coach Billy Napier joins the show to discuss year two in Gainesville. Andy also asks Napier about his part in the viral collage of SEC coaches if they grew their hair long. (Thanks again to Birmingham photojournalist Brooks Carter for a work of art worthy of the Louvre.) (17:14-29:46)Andy and Jesse break down a lawsuit and a threatened lawsuit against Northwestern. More former Wildcats football players are coming forward and claiming that there was a culture of hazing within the program. The suit that has been filed lists former football coach Pat Fitzgerald, current athletic director Derrick Gragg and former athletic director — and current ACC commissioner — Jim Phillips as defendants. In other news, Deion Sanders isn’t going to Pac-12 media day. Also, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution issued a correction and fired a reporter after Georgia officials challenged the accuracy of a story. (29:47-45:18)Arkansas coach Sam Pittman joins the show to talk about hiring two new coordinators and about how thin the margin is between nine wins and seven. Then Razorbacks QB K.J. Jefferson joins to discuss how different this offense will look. (45:19-57:28)Today’s Extra Point brings the return of The Random Ranking. In honor of Saban has declaring his favorite cake, Andy and Jesse rank their top five. (57:29-1:04:14)

Welcome to Andy Staples on three, day three of SEC Media Days. The Razorbacks, the Gators, the Kentucky Wildcats, and oh yeah. The bad boys of the tide. The Alabama Crimson Tide. Jesse Simonton on three, national writer here with me. It was Alabama early, Alabama often, because Georgia may be two national titles deep right now, but when Nick Saban walks in the room, he still commands the crowd, it seems like. He certainly does.

And, hey, you know, we've been here for several days. We've had a good time. We've covered a wide breadth of topics. But, man, it was fun and good that we finally had a little bit of juice. Yes, and it's usually not Alabama we get that from. No. Usually Alabama's coming in, don't give us any rat poison, stop calling us good, all that. They weren't like that today.

No, and we got a new, if you want a little brain teaser, little pretzel twister, we got negative rat poison that is somehow a positive for Alabama. Okay, now I'm totally confused. How are we doing this? So Nick Saban, you know, back two years ago did the tasty rat poison. That was tasty rat poison. I was involved in that. They made a hype video where I said that they could not beat Georgia

in that SEC championship game, and he thanked everyone for the tasty rat poison. So now he has dubbed it. This year they seem to be guzzling what they have deemed negative rat poison, which is everyone is somehow shortchanging that Alabama has the second or third best odds to win the national championship. So this is like when you multiply two negative numbers together, you get a positive?

Exactly. And this is all because somehow, you know, folks are shortchanging the Tide's title chances of not being the favorite. Well, they're not the favorite. Let's be perfectly real. No, they're not. We spent 20 minutes yesterday talking about Georgia

and the possibility of three-peat, and it is very possible that Georgia will three-peat. We don't even know that Alabama will get out of the West, but I will say this. Nick Saban with a problem to solve is the most dangerous version of Nick Saban. And, well, history is a strong indicator of that. Yes. And the other thing that history certainly supports is that

before Kirby Smart was the manufacturing motivation and was coming up with these grievances that no one ever was really talking about. Nick Saban was doing that. Right. And his teams were, you know, the teams that were claiming doubt and disrespect and then coming out and pulverizing opponents. Well, JC Latham, their star offensive tackle comes out today and it's talking about all sorts of, you know, fuel to the fire, slap to the face, the idea that the dynasty is dead is complete disrespect. And then he punctuated all of that by declaring that Alabama would win the national championship. There you go.

You got a promise, a pledge. Well, I don't mind this. I don't mind. Dude, again, we needed some juice here. I wanted somebody to come in with some bravado. Georgia, you're probably not going to get that. I thought maybe we'd get that from LSU. But, yeah, this is an Alabama team.

No, and worse, we got Brian Kelly backtracking a little bit, which now makes me go more towards your tide. Yeah. Well, even more so now with Nick saban saying carrot cakes his favorite cake listen if if the goat the man is close to your heart it's it he you got to get behind him so we'll we'll talk about that later we'll be ranking our our five favorite cakes toward the end of the show but this is an interesting situation because we have not seen Alabama in this role since 2009 when Florida was coming off a national title and they had Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes

and not Percy Harvin back, which should have been a red flag. Right. People should have noticed. Yes. And now it was, you know, for history's purpose, if we're talking about that too, depending on how this vote shakes out tomorrow or Friday, whenever it comes out, if Alabama is not picked to win the SEC West for the second straight year

or if they don't make it, excuse me, for the second straight year, be the first time since 2010-2011, which that's just wild. I mean, that's right there, another indicator of their dominance. Yeah, it is pretty crazy. And you mentioned 2010 and 2011. I know somebody's saying, wait, they won the national title in 2011. But remember, LSU won the West. So you're right.

It is almost inconceivable. Here's the other part of Alabama. Let's talk about Alabama last year again. They lost two games by four points total. It is not like they went five and seven last year. No. And, you know,

someone that's, you know, the Bayou Bengal faithful would say, hey, well, they won several close games, too. The Texas A&M game, the Texas game was a close game. I think something else that Nick Saban said today also should perk up our ears a little bit.

They made the coordinator change. He seems to be very comfortable and confident in the fingerprints that I think Tommy Reese is putting on Alabama's offense. And so even though we don't know who is going to be behind center, I think what they look like offensively is going to be different. He thought even though they had this supermanic quarterback, Nick's words today were, we were too pass happy. We leaned too much on Bryce Young's heroics.

And I'd say that probably goes back to 2020 before Bryce Young was even a starter when you had Mac Jones throwing to a just absolute the factory of wide receiver crazy wide receiver group where you get comfortable with that you get comfortable with with moving the ball that way and I realize different coordinator Bill O'Brien came in after that and then but Bryce Young is also that kind of security blanket where we'll just let Bryce handle it. Well, again, Georgia and Alabama are going to be linked forever in the modern because of Kirby and Nick's relationship. But I think it's very easy to also draw a line between these two programs right now

and say Nick woke up and realized, hey, what they're doing in Athens, where you can be a dynamic offense while mauling people. Let's get back to that. Yeah, and look, we know that makes a certain type of Alabama fan very, very happy. There's a run-the-damn-ball crowd that even as much as they enjoyed the 2020 national title run, it doesn't feel right to them that Alabama wasn't necessarily capable of lining up and just running it down somebody's throat. And now, I mean, you look at the guys they have in the backfield. I mean, Roydale, Jace, but then the guy that I think we believe in on three.

Haynes. Maybe the – the dude's going to be a stud. Justice Haynes, baby. Justice Haynes, I think, by the end of the year, could be the best tailback in the SEC. And we're talking about a freshman. I mean, that's something that he has Todd Gurley-esque, you know, freshman-type potential.

Well, and it's funny, you bring up a Georgia Bulldog. His dad was a Georgia Bulldog. Tennessee fans, cover your ears. Hobnail boot. Ron Haynes, the fullback who caught the winning touchdown pass against Tennessee in Neyland Stadium in 2001, and Larry Munson said, we stepped on their face with a hobnail boot and broke their nose.

We crushed them. And he didn't even know what a hobnail boot was. I think he just made it up. Yeah, but it's an all-time iconic moment in Georgia lore. Justice Haynes. Now, Varun was actually more of a – now, he played in the NFL, but he's more a role player on those Georgia teams. Right, yeah.

Justice Haynes tends to be a star. We're talking about a five-star that emerged right away in spring practice. Nick Saban, who at times, not even at times, throughout his career has been hesitant to really laud praise on players in general, but specifically freshmen. He's come out and has done, you know, the opposite of that with Justice Haynes. I mean, he has leaned in heavily that, like,

this guy is going to be a day one contributor for us. Yeah, and that – it's not entirely unusual. He's done that with other freshmen. But you can tell when he does that with a freshman, it's somebody that he really likes and feels is very mature. Minkazpatrick comes to mind well the other one this year is gonna be caleb uh odom yeah i mean down excuse me caleb down five star safety who's another guy who's gonna make an incident another one like that

so and you know what these you know what the link between all these guys are mature kids right who can handle the hype and are going to come in and put in the work. They're not going to get blown up by NIL or Ego or whatever. They're going to come in and play. And this is the point. No, Alabama might not be the favorite. Georgia could buck 90 years of history in three-peat. But anyone shortchanging the tide, they are so loaded.

They still have the number one probably 1 to 85 roster in america and i mean you lose will anderson you have dallas turner and chris braswell rush the passer and and it's still because will anderson actually kind of changed what they were defensively a little bit nick savin was not usually a big sack guy like he didn't necessarily care if they had huge sack numbers. He'd take sacks if he could get them, but he more wanted to affect the quarterback, confuse the quarterback, make his

eyes lie to him. They've still got two guys who can get off the quarterback, but then they also have that dude up the middle in Jaheim Otis. Yeah, and he's not the only one. That defensive line, I think, again, they're probably going to be moving. Yeah, and he's not the only one. I mean, that defensive line, I think, again, I think they're probably going to be better in the secondary.

They add the, you know, all-conference guy from UAB. Kool-Aid McKinstry was here. He's probably the number one corner in the country. Another guy that seems like he's been in Alabama forever, if you talk to folks in Tuscaloosa, Malachi Moore, I mean, his capability to be versatile at corner and nickel, so the pieces are there. I think this, again, bringing it back, negative rat poison, whatever that is,

I think if enough folks are continuing to kind of quote-unquote doubt the tide before this week two game against Texas, that could be a statement performance. We're talking about a game in Tuscaloosa. They don't lose that often in Tuscaloosa as is, but if they're suddenly it's like, oh, we're seen as like the potential underdog, nah. They'll get Texas' best shot because Texas, known the last 10 years or so for not showing up for games that they should win they almost always show up for games that they're not supposed to win you know you I remember

going to an Oklahoma game one year Oklahoma supposed to beat them by a thousand and Texas just destroy them the game against Alabama last year yeah that's the best maybe the best game Texas played so I think they're going to get Texas' best shot. This is the most NFL talent we've seen on a Texas roster in a while. It's going to be a great first test. Good on good. But it may not look like the Texas game from last year because Alabama may be trying to make a point.

They may be trying to make a point, although what's funny is that that was a game where Alabama really couldn't run the ball. So are they going to be able to do that this year? We think that that's going to be a strength. Obviously, Tommy Reese is going to kind of lean into that less RPO, more under center play action stuff. Well, let's remember how it works when Nick Saban hires a new coordinator,

and this is on offense or defense. It usually works. It's not like most teams. Most teams, they hire a coordinator, the coordinator comes in, they bring their system. You learn their system. That's not how it works at Alabama. Whether they're hiring somebody who has been with them, like when they promoted Mike Loxley, or whether they hire Bill O'Brien, who had been a head coach in the NFL they say here's what we do you learn that and then call your flavor of it and build it around these players well the other thing and that's exactly right the other thing that should get Alabama fans confidence and maybe everyone else a little bit of consternation or trepidation is that Nick Saban seems to have a superpower of hiring the right guy and replacing a guy with a better guy sure he's had a couple

Alabama fans who chased off Pete Golding do not necessarily agree with that I'm talking about specifically offensive coordinator let's let's just quick history lesson Applewhite to McIlwain better upgrade Nuss was better than McIlwain better Nuss to Kiffin better Kiffin to basically Sark and Lox kind of sharing the responsibilities continue to get better

Dan Enos who we'll hear about when we talk to Sam Pittman later in the show he's the new Arkansas I think the Dayball thing probably wasn't great the Dayball thing was amazing they won a national title yeah but Nick wasn't crazy about Dayball thing probably wasn't great. Oh, no, the Dayball thing was amazing. They won a national title. Yeah, but Nick wasn't crazy about Dayball. I think Brian Dayball turned out to be a pretty good coach.

He has turned out to be a very good coach. And then even as much as Alabama fans were all over Bill O'Brien, they had top ten offenses in SP Plus and, you know, across all sorts of metrics the last few years. Well, you forget Sark in the middle there again. Right, Sark came back. That actually probably was their prettiest offense. That was the 2020.

But my point is that the man is just laying down aces all these times. And Tommy Reese coming from a place where their strength most recently was a great offensive line, fantastic tight end. Limited weapons outside. Good backfield, but not much going on outside. Alabama's going to have better talent outside. Are they going to have 2019, 2020 level talent?

Probably not. Another newcomer to watch, five-star Juco transfer Malik Benson. There you go. Could be one of the fastest guys in the nation. And they need somebody in that receiving core to be special. They also need, and I do think this is, if I'm, you know, I had a story on On3 earlier

this offseason about this. Nick brought up the fact they brought in five transfers again. They brought in five transfers last year. They only hit on two of the five. They hit on Gibbs and they sort of hit on Tyler Steen, the offensive lineman from Vanderbilt. But the receiver from Louisville got hurt. You didn't get a chance to do anything. Burton wasn't very good. You bet, you know, two of five, if you're on the Alabama baseball team, you're doing pretty well. Two of five in football. It's

not how it's supposed to work. Not how it's supposed to work. Did you land five better transfers? They got the Dippery kid tight in from Maryland linebacker Tresman Marshall from Georgia and then a couple defensive backs they need a better hit right there if they hit on those guys then I think again the pieces the rest of the pieces are in place obviously Buckner is yeah the quarterback is the question Tyler Buckner Ty Simpson Jalen Milrow we're gonna find out Nick Saban is not going to tip his hand on that. We're probably finding out week one. And he said, you know, he'll pick a guy if a guy emerges.

But if a guy has not emerged, then potentially they go into week one trying to figure it out still. And we've seen him do that before. And it may not be the guy they picked to start week one, a la what happened with Jalen Hurts. He didn't start that game. Blake Barnett started that game. I was at that before. And it may not be the guy they picked to start week one. A la what happened with Jalen Hurts. He didn't start that game. Blake Barnett started that game. I was at that game. Yeah. Comes in and then he comes off the bench

against USC and leads them to a monster win and never gives up the job until Tua takes it a year later. And that's the thing. I liken this more to 2015 where it's a five-man race. Jake Coker winds up winning it, but they still start Cooper Bateman against Ole Miss because they still weren't quite sure.

They lose that game, but Coker came back in in the middle of it, almost brought him back, and they realize, oh, this is the guy who our offensive players coalesce around. He's not a huge NFL prospect. He's not perfect, but he'll get it done and that's that's what happened we'll see this time do they have somebody like that that they can just manage things and get the job done there's your guy dylan lonergan get a shot it doesn't sound like they're going deep into the dylan lonergan and eli holstein the two freshmen it doesn't sound like

they're but i saw that one series in the spring game, and I'm going to speak this into existence. Now, it sounds like a three-man race, and we'll see what happens, but this is a team that has a loaded defense, a good offensive line, good backfield. We'll see with the receivers,

and then the quarterback could be the piece that brings it all together. We'll find out, but I have a hard time doubting nick saban me too but don't tell them that no no slap in the face disrespect no negative rat poison negative rat poison which is positive for alabama i'm telling you it's a brain We think. A guy who has a lot of experience with Nick Saban, former Alabama assistant, former Alabama analyst, current Florida Gators head coach, Billy Napier joins us next. We're here with Florida coach Billy Napier.

And, Billy, this has been going around here, this photo. And I have to ask you this. What does this person do for a living? You know, I've been tech set for a long time, and I've been saying, WWE, here we come. Okay, so I thought Sarkeesian looked more WWE than you. But I will tell you, so your college roommate, top receiver, noted worldwide renowned recording artist,

Bear Reinhart, is here with you today. I asked him. He said he looks like a roofer. I did just get a new roof put on my house. That didn't look like anybody put the roof on my house. But Sam Pittman, the Arkansas coach, had the best answer. He said, Billy looks like Jesus. Oh, yeah.

Football Jesus. That's been one of those things there you go well i think i sent some t-shirts your your nil will blow up with appreciate with that so uh this is it's a year of changes but it's interesting because we had eli drinkwits in this chair a couple days ago and he was explaining why he's given up play calling and all this other stuff going on his you know he's a gus malzahn guy gus same thing and you you got asked about it today because you you you're not doing that and i was thinking about this you're a guy who grew up with a high school coach for a dad wanting to be a high school coach

you now run this massive organization with all these analysts and you have people who are who make graphics for you and so like is this a way to stay in touch with the actual analysts and you have people who make graphics for you. Is this a way to stay in touch with the actual football for you? Yeah, I mean, I think that it's as close as I can get to playing the game. I've answered this question a million times. A lot of coaches that come to work for you, they want to know for their future career. But I really believe that it's a way to keep your hand on the identity of your team. Conceptually, the practice environment, the commitment to playing complementary football, understanding not only what you're installing, but what is the defense installing,

and then watching each play and evaluating each play relative to that. And then, you know, once you get to the season and game week, what you do between Sunday to Saturday prepares you to call the game. Now, I went back and I was looking at Louisiana year one to year two. You had quite a jump between those first two years. What did you see from that team in between those two years? What's the hallmark of a team about to make a jump? I think there's a compound effect of year two.

The analogy I use is not only is the student learning the material for the second time, all the teachers are teaching the material for the second time. They understand what's expected, and they're better at their job. I think there's a trickle down to the players. We're seeing it recruiting right now. Year two, we're having more success, and I think that I'm hopeful that that will carry over to the football component as well. Well, I was going to say that message seems to be getting out.

I know you can't talk about anybody specifically who's committed, but you look at the finalists of the guys who are committing to you, and it's a pretty different class of school than it was before. How do you sell that to them when the first season was not exactly what you wanted it to be? Well, I think kids are smart. I think that ultimately young people, they go through their own recruiting process.

They go visit these other institutions. They see the place. They see the resources. They understand the degree, the alumni network, the experiences that we can create through GatorMade, equipping them, educating them. And then, you know, our football plan has proven it works, right? So I think we've got a unique combination of things that we offer.

We've completely rebuilt the player experience. Our administration has been phenomenal. I've got to talk to you about that. I was with James Bates the other day. He was a captain on the 96 National Championship team. We were talking about the stools that used to be in the locker room. They were about two feet off the ground. That was the seat. If you wanted to sleep in the locker room. And they were about two feet off the ground.

That was the seat. And if you wanted to sleep in front of your locker, you could sleep on the floor. And what your players have right now, I would have never left. I would just live in there. No, I mean, it's affecting our team dynamic. They spend more time in the building. Therefore, they spend more time in the building, therefore they spend more time together. There's not only more efficiency, better resources, a modernization of approach with our infrastructure, but they're just flat out, they're spending more time together, and I think that's going to benefit us. Yeah, and you've got some guys, a bunch of new guys

through the portal. You talked about it in the big room here, a lot of experience coming in and, and Bram Mertz from Wisconsin, the quarterback, very experienced. How important was that getting guys that are, that are just played a lot of snaps? You know, I think we evaluate each one of these guys kind of independent of themselves relative to our roster, what we need. Do we need a young, talented player that has a number of years of eligibility, or do we need immediate impact? Right. And I think we've added some really unique players.

I mean, you dig into PFF and production and, you know, these guys' backgrounds. I'm excited. I think Bird Sherrill did great work. He's the director of college personnel, and our staff did a good job closing that out. Well, and you've got Mr. Moten from Michigan just recently. I've heard good things in town about Caleb Banks from Louisville and Cam Jackson from Memphis.

How much different will the D-line look with some new blood? Yeah, I mean, immediately when they walk in the room, the height length is different. You know, we're talking 6'6", 350, 6'5", and 3 quarters, 320. Yeah. Real athletes, I think NFL players. So not a lot of people are talking about them right now, and I'm okay with that. Yeah, I was wondering about that.

It'll become pretty apparent. People are assuming Jervon Dexter got drafted. We don't necessarily know the younger guys, so nobody's talking. But, yes, I would think if that unit gets better, that changes things quite a bit for you guys. Yeah, no question. I mean, any good defense is going to be strong up the middle, and these guys bring presence right away.

To go along with some other really good pieces. Yeah. Now, in the pass game, I'm curious, how much can the run game help the pass game? Because obviously those backs, Montrell and Trevor, are one of the strengths of this roster. But how much can the play-action game kind of open things up? Well, I think the rush, when you can rush the ball, I think you force the defense's hand a little bit. The throw game can become simpler.

You create more individual matchups, more vertical seams. When they can play split safety and start doubling players, then you've got some problems, right? So, ultimately, we've got a great system that distributes the ball depending on how the defense aligns. And we need Graham to make great decisions. We're going to feature these backs. We're going to feature Ricky Pearsall.

And we're going to evaluate the other group of skilled players that we have, and we'll get the ball to the playmakers. So somebody was telling me that you have notebooks in your office where you basically go by day and that sometimes you will grab one from a year ago or a couple of years ago and go to that day and go through it. What, what does that do for you? Yeah. I mean, it just creates consistency and then you minimize error, right? I mean, I think half the battle here is just don't make the same mistake twice. So it's one of the ways that we improve our process quality control everything that we do right then there's a ton of research

behind this and then you go back to that yeah and then you prepare when you kind of encounter that next time of the year so over time it adds up and all parts of the organization, we challenge them to take the same approach. So did you open up the notebook from last year's media day? Yeah. Okay. Figure out what the speech was going to be in the last two years. So, yeah, no question.

I mean, I'm trying to get better, right? And I think ultimately you've got to learn from the past. You don't have to learn from it with us. That's the thing. We just need you coming in off the cuff saying ridiculous things. We'll make fun of you for it for a month, and then the games will happen, and we'll just form our own judgments off of that. No doubt.

It's much easier that way. But really, what have you learned in a year in charge at Florida? Well, I think that it's very evident that, you know, there's a lot of things that needed to be done here. I think we all understood. It's like giving a year of your life away. You know, I mean, the first year your time is so divided. And I think that a couple of the new variables cause that to be a challenge, right?

Yeah. You're immediately a class and a half behind in recruiting. Right. I think for me that was magnified a little bit because we weren't recruiting that pool of players. Right. We were at Louisiana. Then you throw in NIL, you throw in the portal not to mention all the things that needed to be done at the University of Florida so ultimately your time is divided yeah I left the place where I felt like I had an incredible connection with my team with my staff

and then you take that for granted a little bit so it's pretty apparent hey look we got to start over here well and you you mentioned this before where you talk about you got to New School at a time when everything was changing and there's no instruction manual for it. So the NIL thing, I know this spring you were talking to groups and setting up the Florida Victorious Collective, and you were going to people and saying, hey, this is how you have to recruit now. This has to be good here. How hard are those conversations with some folks who maybe aren't into giving to NIL?

Well, I think it's all about education, and I think Florida Victorious has done a really good job of doing NIL in a very strategic manner. The service-oriented work with the financial literacy component, I think we're going out of our way to do what college athletics should do, shape the character of the player, and also prepare them for their future from a financial perspective. So we've got great leadership in that organization. They've hired people from within the athletic department, from the university side.

I think there's good alignment there. And the state law has benefited us. Right. And I think going forward, Florida's position for that to be a really strong, sustainable, repeatable kind of product that we can all be proud of. I know when you were dreaming of becoming a football coach, you thought you were going to have to talk about state laws and state legislatures. It's reality.

How much of it, because you're a younger coach, and it seems like the dividing line is among the age groups in the coaches where it seems like guys your age are like, well, whatever they tell us, we're going to have to deal with it. Yeah. Well, I think it's about you want to're going to have to deal with it. Yeah. Well, I think it's about you want to do the best job you can do for your people. And ultimately, my career kind of reflects the involvement of the revenue and the explosion.

So I've seen it when it was bare bones operation to where we're at today. And I think it would be foolish to think that the players don't deserve some of this revenue that this game is creating. I still haven't met a college head coach who actually thought they'd make any money when they got into the field. I can remember taking the job at Clemson, telling my dad, like, Dad, you know, this is about the same amount of money that a good Georgia high school job would make. I think I'm going to give it a try.

Did he tell you you were crazy or was he going to say go for it? He was good. Yeah, he was like, hey, you believe in it, let's go. And here you are now trying to deal with all the changes and hang on for dear life. Billy, thank you so much. Thank you, Andy. I appreciate the opportunity. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Andy. I appreciate the opportunity. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir. A belated thank you to Brooks Carter, award-winning photojournalist at the ABC affiliate in Birmingham, who made the SEC coaches if they grew their hair long montage that we showed to Billy Napier. And that's going to make another appearance on the show as well. So bravo,vo Brooks if you have not seen the tweet it's at Brooks A Carter on Twitter he's done it with quite a few coaches

you will get a good laugh out of it we have to move on Jesse unfortunately to something that is not a laughing matter this northwestern situation it's it is going in directions i guess that were fairly predictable when we saw pat fitzgerald fired and and some of the reports come out but now two groups of attorneys have brought forth clients uh there's a there's a firm that has filed a suit against northwestern against pat fitzgerald, against Derek Gregg, their AD, against former AD Jim Phillips, who happens to be the commissioner of the ACC right now. That's an anonymous plaintiff on that one. And then Ben Crump and Steven Levine, another group of attorneys in Chicago,

they brought out four former Northwestern players who went on the record to talk about their experiences with hazing at Northwestern. They have threatened a lawsuit, but they have not actually filed a lawsuit. Not yet. Yeah, it seems like they may be joining, but it's TBD there. You know, when you and I spoke last week for a video at On3, we talked about the fact that this was just one domino. The Pat Fitzgerald firing was simply the first shoe to drop

that there would be litigation probably from both sides. And now, you know, this has hit a real serious point here. I mean, the fact that you have, you know, a couple anonymous guys filing claims, and then you have several former players, including the starting running back, I think, in 2013, who went on the record today and told a group of reporters that the sexual violence and hazing was rampant.

Lloyd Yates, who was a quarterback there who did not play very much. No, he was 2015 to 17, I think. He went on the record. He talked to the Chicago Tribune this week and then went on the record again and made some similar claims to what we heard the whistleblower from the more recent teams made to the Northwestern student paper when all that blew up which is about all the running the quote-unquote running and that was the naked stuff all that yeah and it sounded very similar. And their contention is that this has been going on at Northwestern for quite some time, dating back a while. Now, the other layer to this that makes it really interesting in terms of Jim Phillips, the ACC commissioner,

it's not just the football team. There are issues. Multiple sports. There was an issue with the cheerleading team. Baseball. The baseball just had one, and apparently there are a couple more sports that could get ensnared in this thing. So that's where Jim Phillips, who's now commissioner of the ACC,

he's named in this lawsuit. This could come back to haunt him as well. The way this could really get, I mean, this is already extremely serious and a sensitive subject, but because several of these players are African-American and they have spoken up about how it was even more difficult for players of color, we are potentially. Sounded very similar to the Iowa situation. Yes, I was going to say that we are now broaching closer to a potential civil rights case

or lawsuit that could also join this. And so what's happening right now, we are in the very, very infant stages. But this is an ugly situation that this program is dealing with, you know, on the heels of Big Ten Media Day, which you'll be at in a couple days. Yeah, it'll be interesting, and I'm sure all the questions will be about that. And unfortunately, their interim coach, who just got there, probably not prepared to to answer but notably he was on staff you know a year ago i mean all these guys no just no just now

so oh he's new oh wow who'd they bring in well that's that's the thing that he would he wasn't on staff last year he was on staff he was hired this off season oh year. He was hired this offseason. Oh, I missed that. Yeah, Ron was hired this offseason. I missed that. Yeah, wow. I missed that. That is what makes things just really. Oh, that's extremely complicated.

Really tough. That's an added. I will point out that Pat Fitzgerald's attorney, Dan Webb, has issued a statement as well and said, you know, there are no specifics that these guys are giving beyond what you've kind of already heard. And so he said until they get more specifics, they're not going to reveal any of their specifics, but they feel like they're going to biggishly defend Pat Fitzgerald and his reputation.

And it's interesting because when Pat Fitzgerald hired Dan Webb, who is a very powerful attorney, my thought was, okay, this is to get Pat Fitzgerald's money. But I'm sure he's doing that as well, but he's also going to wind up having to defend Pat Fitzgerald in these lawsuits, it sounds like. Yeah, multiple. And again, as we said, I mean, the guys that went on the record both with the Chicago Tribune last night and then with a group of reporters in Chicago today have yet to join the lawsuit. But they are represented by the same lawyer that is the lawyer for these two cases, so it could be a pending situation.

So David Braun, by the way, just in case. Yeah, because I was – Hired this offseason, was at North Dakota State beforehand. Gotcha. Wow. this is even and so so but the rest of the staff it was retained for now for now it's it very similar to the baylor situation where you're not going to fire an entire staff right before the season and do a whole yeah that's just an impossible situation for that program so that's what they're dealing with right now. This is not going to end anytime soon. No.

And the fact that it's now gone to, I didn't mention, also named that lawsuit, Michael Schill, the current president of Northwestern, Morton Shapiro, the former president of Northwestern, who was very powerful in the Big Ten Presidents group before he left Northwestern. And so these are the people who are making decisions. These are the movers and shakers. Yes, making

big decisions. And so, we'll see. Jim Phillips will have to get up at ACC Media Days with this hanging over his head. I'm sure he was already bracing for questions about the schools that have expressed their interest in getting more money from the ACC.

But this is far different than that. This is a lot worse to deal with than that. No, no. And yeah, not the only Media Day storyline to drop that we got today either. No, no. We found out that Deion Sanders will not be going to Pac-12 Media Day for Colorado. He's going to have surgery. We had seen the stories that he needed to have some blood clots removed

and that he was having trouble with circulation to his foot. Apparently he's actually having surgery tomorrow, but it's the recuperation deal Friday. You're not going to fly to Pac-12 Media Day to do that. But that's a huge – I mean, this is another – you talk about taking it on the chin for the Pac-12 this week, no media rights deal before your media days. They did a good job of managing expectations on that

because they got it out there that, hey, we're not announcing anything. Right, they massaged that, but now you don't have prime time, you know, the guy that everyone wanted to hear from and talk to. It's disappointing. I was standing in the interview out in that hallway in Las Vegas with George Kliavkov when he talked about how valuable Dion was going to be to the Pac-12 in terms of their TV deal. And here's the chance where, because all eyes would have been on Dion.

Right. Now, granted, Caleb Williams is a returning Heisman Trophy winner. You've got Lincoln Riley there. But he was there, Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr. But Kadevkov was saying that from a negotiation standpoint. Now, look, they're still going to have Colorado's games, as far as we know. For now. Yeah, until they announce a deal. For now.

So it is part of the negotiations. But, yeah, we're not going to hear from Dion. That was the thing I was looking forward to the most about Pac-12 Media Day on Friday, but it doesn't look like we're going to get him. So who becomes the star of Pac-12 Media Day now? Caleb Williams? Caleb Williams? I mean, well, he certainly would be the biggest standout for sure.

I don't think anybody's going to say anything wild. Yeah, in terms of character, I don't know. Does Jed Fish say anything funny? I don't know. Jed Fish is a delightful guy to talk to, but I don't know if he's going to do that in the media. I don't know if he's going to move the needle. Have you ever seen Kenny Dillingham do the worm?

I have not. So Kenny Dillingham, the new head coach at Arizona State, is excellent at doing the worm. If he breaks that out, it's going viral, especially now that Deion's not going to be there. I've seen Dan Lanning puff a cigar and then have that same kid flip to another school a day later. I don't think they're going to try that at media days.

I think the conference might frown on that. So it would have been fun to hear from Deion, but we will probably get a YouTube video about his recuperation from surgery. I'm sure. And this gets him back in time for practice. So you got to get done what you got to get done. It is what it is. Another piece of news. We talked on Monday about the Georgia situation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Georgia had asked the AJC to retract a story. They did the nine-page report for them.

Right. The story had claimed that there were 11 instances where Georgia players were investigated for sexual violence and then remained on the roster. The story only mentioned two players. One of whom had been actually kicked off the team. One of whom was kicked off the team and never played again after all that happened. And then one player where they very selectively chose details

from the police report that painted one picture, and if you actually read the police report, it presents a little bit differently. But nowhere in that story, and this is one thing I found weird, and we talked about this on Monday, did they have a list of the other cases? And apparently. Nary one.

The AJC went to the reporter, went back through the reporting, and said, let's make the list of the cases. They could not make a list of 11. Which we said at the time was malfeasance. Which, it's interesting, and the AJC did not publish this part of it. How many were there? Were there any beyond the two? That's the part that makes it very, how did that ever get past any editors?

And so they have fired the reporter, Alan Judd, because of this. I don't know if they've made any other personnel changes. And issued a correction and retraction in the paper today. Within the story, yes. Within the story today. But here's my thing. You and I have both been in this business a long time. We both have had good and bad editors.

Even the bad editors I've had, if I said something, especially if I'd written something about such a sensitive topic like sexual violence and I said there were 11 cases even the worst editor I ever had would have said 11 minus 2 is 9 or missing

I'm going to need to see the other 9 before we can have this number 11 in the story yeah I mean yeah it's again we thought it's malfeasance that that piece ran as such, and clearly so because I think you and I both thought this was going to quiet down for a little while just in terms of the AJC really diving deep because Alan Judd had been there so long.

Did you have to go back through everything? Did you have to go back through everything? But I guess they felt like we went back through this. That was fireable enough. Yeah. And it just, here's my issue with this. And normally we don't go this deep into other people's reporting. We don't talk about other people's stories or their process and all that.

It pisses me off when stuff like this happens because the public already doesn't trust us. They think we have an us. They think we have an agenda, they think we have it out for people, and when you do things like cherry-pick details from a police report to make it fit what you were trying to say and put a number 11 when you can't prove that there's 11, it makes us all look terrible. It makes it look like we're trying to do this stuff and I can tell you from having covered stories involving sexual violence you try to be so careful for the accuser and for the accused

i mean in those stories fairness is yes is the you know the number one priority yes accuracy yes and fairness. Yes. And they're so hard. And we get that this is inside baseball stuff. But this is what makes this such an interesting topic. It's so frustrating to me that this was allowed to happen at a place, I'll tell you. So I interned at the AJC in 1999.

I grew up reading it. As a kid, it was my dream to work there. I always wanted to work for the AJC. That was I grew up reading it. As a kid, it was my dream to work there. I always wanted to work for the AJC. That was the dream paper for me. And for this to happen, it's just mind-blowing. Because I remember back in 1999, armies of editors read every story. Like, I can't imagine something like that would have been able to get through. That's such a great, that right there is an excellent point on our industry writ large right now, too, where there's just, we've cut down on the behind-the-scenes manpower, and that's how something like this can skate through.

And it also makes what Georgia did in terms of coming out so forcefully with their nine-page report saying, literally fighting against the biggest newspaper in the state being like, you got this wrong. And they were right. Yeah. They were proving correct. I have no problem with them pushing back because they— But you don't see that a lot either. No.

But a lot of times you'll see somebody push back and say, this is wrong. And I've had people say that about stuff I've written. Oh, yeah. But then they don't come with any evidence. I will say specifically what is wrong. You point it out. If it's wrong, I'll issue a correction. And then they can't because it's not wrong.

It just made them mad. Right. Yeah. This wasn't an opinion. This is different. Right. This is a fact that you chose not to. I mean, I don't even know how to describe it because I can't understand how it would happen.

It's disappointing. It is. But that situation, that really wasn't the resolution I expected this quickly. Not this quickly. But they've gotten to it, and I guess everybody sort of moves on from here, and we will see what happens. But on to happier things. I was going to say, at least you have a good teaser to come up with your combo

with Sam Pittman. Yeah, on to happier things. We talked to Sam Pittman and K.J. Jefferson from Arkansas. Mr. Yes, sir. Those two are delightful. And Sam Pittman. Remember, I mentioned those photos of the SEC coaches if they'd grown their hair out. And Sam Pittman's might be better than Billy Napier's. We'll just leave it at that. We'll be right back. Here with Arkansas coach Sam Pittman. Coach, pleasure having you here.

I have just been needing to ask you, since I saw this picture last week, I want to ask you, what do you think that guy does? Oh, he's a baller. I don't know exactly what he does, but he's doing it well, man. He looks like he manages country bands. I think that's what he does. He's really good at it. I like that.

That looks like a cross between maybe Meatloaf and Rob Ryan. Ooh, I like that. Listen, Meatloaf lived a great life. That was a life well lived. We know Rob Ryan does. We'll ignore long-haired Zach Arnett and long-haired Red Venables. I ain i got no comment no but that except for napier i saw that well he looks like jesus a little bit a little bit

i was either either jesus or somebody in a band from the 70s like a little lost almond brother yeah that's a good point so sam what's his name in roadhouse oh yeah maybe absolutely well we're having billy napier later so i'm to have to ask him the same question. I don't think he's going to pull a John Lennon and say he's looking like Jesus or bigger than Jesus, but, you know. So what has this been like, this trip around SEC media days? You got new coordinators, same quarterback, so old and new. Yeah, I think, you know, the biggest concern I had, and I had it ever since I got the job, don't lose your coordinators.

Don't lose your coordinator. Don't lose your coordinator. Well, you know, if they do right, you know, Barry went and got a head coach job at UNLV, and Kendall decided to go back home to his home state and all those things. And what I found out is there's a lot of people who want to job at Arkansas. Oh, yeah. And so very grateful for those guys.

But, you know, Dan, he wanted to come back. Yeah. And Travis Williams. And I love guys who really, really want to be at Arkansas. Both of them did. Both of them are going to do a great job for us. Well, Dan Enos, it's interesting because you all worked be at Arkansas. Both of them did. Both of them are going to do a great job for us. Well, Dan Enos, it's interesting because you all worked together at Arkansas. You were the online coach.

He was the OC. That was Brandon Allen. Very explosive offense. And then he goes, he coaches Tua. He coaches Talia Tangvailoa. Yeah. Different quarterback in KJ. So, what about him you know fits this offense I think I think the first

question that Dan asked me when I talked to him about the job was what do you want I know what you got what what do you what do you want or do you want him running the ball and I said no no no no I want him healthy yeah and I want him throwing the football. Now, he's going to run the ball because he's going to decide that when he wants to. Yeah. But so I said, no, no, no, no, no. And so I was really interested in how he could develop KJ. And I just think that between what he did at Alabama, what he did with Brandon Allen, like you say, I think we hit the jackpot.

And then T. Will, big energy, great recruiter. T. Will's bad to the bone, man. I love him. Him and that group of guys that, you know, we hired over there. But T. Will cares about the players, loves the players, hard on players, makes them accountable for, you know, good or bad. Yeah.

It's good. They're accountable. He holds them accountable, you know, lets them know it. Bad, he holds them accountable. And he's the same guy every day. A lot of enthusiasm. Great recruiter. Great coach.

So you were talking to our guy Jesse Simonson earlier this year about last year you felt like you didn't hit enough early in practice, didn't continue hitting enough. This is something that I feel like is coming up more and more with coaches where it's a philosophical divide where you have coaches, Kirby, Nick, who say hit all season, Mario Cristobal, hit all season, be conditioned to it, and other people say, well, you don't want to get hurt. How do you fall on that now after trying it that way? Well, I went from 9-4 to 7-6.

And so this year, last year we had no scrimmages in the spring. We had two and a half this year. We had two in a series. Right. We're going to scrimmage in the fall. Mine is not as much about tackling this, not scrimmaging, all this, because you can have the physical play. Right.

Mine is you don't really know what you have until you get to the game if you don't tackle. Right. Your second-team guys are awful hard to beat out a first-team guy if you can't tackle or get tackled. Right. I just didn't think it was fair to the team, so I went back to tackle football.

Is that – I mean, you mentioned the record. You had some very close games. It was a pretty thin margin between that 9-4 and that 7-6. Do you feel like that can get you on the right side of that again? I do, you know, because it's all about toughness, physicality, loyal, all those. And you have to make things hard to see really what you have. Yeah. And practice is a great time to do that.

So you got, what what two days of vacation left when do you have to go back to work uh monday so i saw the pictures from hot springs yeah now you have you been hired by the state of arkansas tourism board yet no but i tell you if i had a dollar for everybody to stop by there i may i may retire the pig statue is still doing okay and and at your place it's doing great man. It's slobbering. Okay. The water's coming out of the big one's mouth, and they're calling the hogs all the time over there.

So the more it slobbers, the better it is, right? Amen. All right. Sam Pittman, thank you so much. Good to see you, buddy. Appreciate it. Thank you much. Here with Arkansas quarterback K.J. Jefferson.

And, K.J., this is a year of high expectations for you you got a new offensive coordinator knew a lot of stuff but what's it feel like being a third year starter in the SEC? It feels good it feels amazing actually to be a third year starter in the SEC just knowing this is an elite conference the best of the best. So just being able to be a third-year starter is truly amazing. How did your decision-making process go at the end of last season to decide to be here and not be in an NFL camp right now? It was really easy for me just knowing that I wanted to come back because I didn't play in a couple games due to injury.

And also just last year draft was a quarterback heavy draft, so being able to come back and give myself a chance. You mentioned the getting banged up. How tough was that, like the Mississippi State game that you couldn't play in? draft was a quarterback heavy draft so being able to come back and give myself a chance you mentioned the getting banged up and miss how tough was that like the Mississippi State game that you couldn't play in what what what was that like watching oh it was it was hard it was heartbreaking uh just be going back to Mississippi going back home and not being able to play in front of my family but also it was it was also a life-learning moment for me just being able to help my guys out on the sideline to help the quarterback that was coming in.

How did your mom handle that? Because you were on my show last year, and you were telling me about your mom during games, which in high school you could hear her everywhere. But she does this in college too where you can hear her call and plays, all that. How did she handle when you were dinged up? She handled it pretty well. I mean, she stayed in my ear about just, you know what I'm saying,

it's football, it's going to happen. Just being able to just make sure you're doing each and every thing you can do to get back, make sure you're getting training room. What is that like when you're in an SEC stadium and you can hear your mom? It's pretty surreal that I can actually hear her and know, like, hear her or she'll walk down to the sideline and say something to me. So it's pretty surreal, but it's, but I feel like it's a gift. Because I've seen a ton of parents do that in high school.

I've never seen anybody do that in an 80,000-seat stadium. So that is impressive. And that has got to be an impressive voice. Yeah. I mean, as you were growing up, did you have to be careful to not have that voice be mad at you? A little bit. I mean, that's still to this day right now.

I mean, she still gets mad at me for certain things. But, I mean, she's my biggest critic. So, I mean, she always knows what's best for me. She wants me to reach my full potential. So now you're working with Coach Enos. He comes in. Coach Bryles is at TCU. How different is this going to look?

It's going to look way different. I mean, we're not as fast as we used to be in the past. Pro-style offense with some spread concepts in it. So the game is going to be a whole lot slower now moving forward. Well, Coach Pittman was saying that when he talked to Coach Enos about what he wanted out of the offense, he said, I want KJ upright

throwing the ball. How do you decide, okay, I need to run now or I need to stand in here and throw this thing? It's kind of – I feel like it's based on instincts. I mean, it's kind of an instinct thing, but it's also a mental thing as well, just knowing like, hey, I need to stand in here in this pocket as long as I can and deliver a great ball. Or, hey, I need to get out of this pocket

and create an explosive play with my legs. You've been in this program for a long time now. How well do you know your teammates, and how much does that help when you're in practice, when you're in the weight room, when you're on the field? It means a lot. I mean, I know just about each and everybody's why, like what motivates them. So I kind of know a lot, and each and every day we try to do some type of bonding, experiment, or exercise for us amongst each other to get to know everybody so just being able to when

times get hard we can always count on each other when did you start trying to figure out everybody's why when when did you say I need to know what makes this guy tick and what makes this guy tick um I would say just just evaluating like NFL quarterbacks and how they're so persistent, how they can be able to just diagnose everything. That's just motivating me to be like, hey, maybe it's the smaller details I need to pay attention to. Have you been watching that quarterback show on Netflix with Mahomes? I have, I have.

It is so amazing to see it because Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, Marcus Mariota, very different quarterbacks, different people, but it's amazing to see how they operate. Yeah, it is. It is. Actually, one of the trainers on the staff actually told me about the show. I didn't know nothing about it. So I went back and watched it to actually see those three different type of quarterbacks

go through what they go through in the NFL. It's fun to watch, but it's also like. Who's the most fun to watch? Mahomes for sure. It's got to be, right? Yeah, Mahomes for sure. When they had the part where he's showing how he comes up with the different arm angles and practices, all those different arm angles,

that is absolutely wild. Yeah, it is. Although I will say, like, Cousins was interesting to me because he's the one, he's saying, okay, we're going to stay afterward, and we're going to go over all these calls. And he's just grabbing individual guys to say, hey, just come over and we'll go over. As a leader in the offense, how often do you have to do that where you may have to pull a guy aside and say, all right, I see you're struggling with this, let's work on this.

I feel like at the quarterback position, I wouldn't say you had to do it every day, but, like, more times than not you had to do it because they're expecting you to lead them in the right direction. So just being able to help those guys out and know that, hey, timing is everything when it comes down to quarterback and receiver. How differently do the other players react to you now than when you were the first-time starter? Very different, very different.

Just because I'm a veteran now, I played a lot of games, started a lot of games. So now they look to me for their vocal leadership, their experience aspect of things. All right, I'm going to ask you. I asked Coach this question too. I'm going to ask you. What does that guy do for a living?

Oh, hold on, I lost you. There he is. What does that guy do for a living oh hold on i lost you there he is what does that guy do for a living flip cheeseburgers he he he said he said he thought he was managing bands but i flipped cheeseburger i bet he makes a damn fine cheeseburger too kj thank you so much i appreciate it thank you Flip cheeseburger. I bet he makes a damn fine cheeseburger, too. You probably do. You probably do. KJ, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. It is time for our extra point.

And instead of me just talking to you today, I brought Jesse on. We had an old segment on my old podcast called The Random Ranking. And I feel like today is a day for that because, Jesse, we learned something today. Nick Saban likes cake. And specifically, he has a favorite, and it was an easy choice according to him. Carrot cake is his favorite cake. I realize that is a controversial choice. I tweeted that out.

And, man, the replies, there was debate. But that's your favorite cake too. Fervent debate. Well, let's find out. Okay. Because we're going to do a random ranking. Let's do it. Of cakes.

Top five. But before we reveal our top fives. We got a special. We have a special guest who sent in his own top three. A future SEC athletic director. A Big 12 current athletic director, Joe Castiglione, the athletic director at Oklahoma. His number three is Junior's Cheesecake in New York. Oh, he got specific.

Well, very specific. Now, I will push back somewhat. I think cheesecake is a different category, but maybe not. Okay, we'll find out. I'm thinking kind of spongy, you know, that sort of cake. Three-layer red velvet cake is his number two. Italian cream cake, also known as wedding cake. Number one, Joe Castiglione.

If you are named Castiglione, I think you have to answer that. Bold choice, though. Bold choice. It is for number one. For number one, that's a bold choice. All right, so we're going to do our own top fives. We will go five through one. Jesse, you're number five.

Well, you know, since Kissing Leone just went international, I'm going to do the same. Okay. I'm going to go German chocolate icebox cake. If you've ever had that, it is mouthwatering. Do they have coconuts in Germany? Well, the irony is I don't think it actually is from Germany. I have no idea where the name comes from. The German chocolate cake is coconut.

I don't understand that. I don't really know where the name comes from, but if you've ever had that icing and that cream, it is a specific flavor that, and I have not had this cake in a long time, but it is by far the tastiest of tasty cakes. For my number five, I'm going to throw out the cake that I have probably eaten more of than any other cake in a long time, but it is by far the tastiest of tasty cakes. For my number five, I'm going to throw out the cake that I have probably eaten more of than any other cake in the world, and that is

the Publix Yellow Sheet Cake. Oh, I thought you were going Funfetti. Okay. Every birthday party I have ever attended since about age 11 had a Publix Sheet Cake. If you grew up in Florida, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Now, if you're a little cake. If you grew up in Florida, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Now, if you're a little bit younger and you grew up pretty much anywhere in the South, you know what I'm talking about. I will say, though, Sam's Club's bakery is making a push to push the public sheet cake off this spot in the rankings. If you haven't had a Sam's Club sheet cake lately at a party, it's pretty good.

I don't have children, so you get a lot of birthday parties. That's right. All right. All right, my number four. I wonder if you're going to push back on this because of what you just said. I had cheesecake. See, I think cheesecake is a totally different kind of cake. I understand where you're coming from, but it's a totally different flavor profile.

It's much more savory than most cakes are just purely sweet. Although I will say, as you get to the top of my rankings, there are some savory elements as well. So maybe, I don't know. Now that I think about it, cheesecake does have a big part of one of the elements of my number one. Well, it's got the word cake in it. Well, that too. Yes, I know. Okay, well, I'll take it. I'll accept it.

Okay. All right, number four for me, cinnamon crumb cake. Okay. This is an excellent, this like goes with your coffee. You can eat it for breakfast. You can eat it for dessert. It's just like. Kind of like the stepbrother version of coffee cake.

Yes, it's a good all-purpose cake. And so that's my number four. What's your number three? My number three... You know what? You haven't taken it yet. So I'm gonna go lemon poppy seed cake. Not a draft, but no danger

of me taking it. It's okay. You know what? I think it's a little bit, some people like hummingbird cake. I like the lemon poppy seed. I love lemon bars. I'm not a huge lemon cake fan.

It's not like I don't want lemons in my sweets, but it's just not with my cake. Not your go-to. I love a lemon bar, but not the same thing. My number three, devil's food cake. Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate on chocolate. All chocolate, everything.

Classic, classic. My number two is actually kind of one of yours, but it's a similar one. Shout out to my mom, coffee cake. She has rich cream cheese in it, sour cream. It is divine. It is divine. It is unbelievable. That sounds outstanding. It's something that we have on Christmas morning a lot of times.

It's like a little post-breakfast. If your mom comes to visit, let me know if she's making this. I need to know because that sounds amazing. Okay. All right, my number two, red velvet cake. Now, you can have buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting. I would prefer you do it with cream cheese frosting, though. I'll take either one.

Okay, all right. My number one is rum cake. Oh, good choice. Rum cake is my favorite. You got the bourbon or the rum in either one. Some people like bourbon. Some people like rum. It's kind of a pick your flavor there.

But you have that in the spongy cake, and then on top you've got the little drizzle icing with the pecans or the walnuts. Number one for me. My number one often has pecans, often has a bourbon element. Me and Nick Saban, me and the goat. You go carrot cake. Think about it.

You go to a nice steakhouse. You have the big steak for dinner, and then they bring out that seven-layer carrot cake with that cream cheese frosting on it. Good Lord. There's no better way to finish a meal. And if you don't believe me. The thicker the better, right?

I believe the best college football coach in the history of the sport. He likes it too. Jesse, it's been a fun day at SEC Media Days. It has. We have one more, though. So we'll be back. Thanks for watching. Remember, like, subscribe, tell all your friends.

Download. Download. You get it as a podcast. If you watch it on video, you could do both. Switch one day watch, one day listen, however you want this show. We're prepared to give it to you. Thank you so much. And we're going to wrap things up for SEC Media Days in Nashville tomorrow.